Week 5: Allison

 This week, Eleana and I wrapped up the experiments we started last week to examine the impact of radiation on T cell survival and exhaustion. On Monday, I irradiated T cells with different doses of x-rays with the plan to look at exhaustion and activation markers with flow cytometry. Unfortunately, even the smallest radiation dose killed the T cells overnight, but it is known that T cells are highly sensitive to radiation in vitro so this wasn't unexpected. Our 5 day coculture of T cells with irradiated glioblastoma cells finished on Wednesday, so over the past 2 days we have been staining and fixing the cells for analysis with flow cytometry.

I was able to attend the brain metastasis tumor board this week, where oncologists and radiologists discussed patient cases and treatment options. After shadowing in pathology, it was interesting to see the more patient-facing side of clinical practice and how these diagnoses are translated to patient care. Next week, I should be shadowing a radiation oncologist in the clinic, and I am very excited to see more of this area.